Options to Improve Cycle Safety Released

Dunedin (Wednesday, 18 September 2013) – The community will be consulted on two preferred long-term options for improving the safety of Dunedin’s one-way sections of State Highway 1.

The NZ Transport Agency (Transport Agency) has been working with the Dunedin City Council (DCC) and cycle advocacy group Spokes to improve cycle safety on the one-way streets through the central city. This is in response to a rethink of how cycle safety should be managed within the city following cyclist fatalities in 2011 and 2012 on the one-way system.

At its meeting on Monday, the Council will consider a report which includes information on the two preferred options. Under both options, the cycle lane would be shifted to the driver’s right hand side of the road and be physically separated from traffic.

For one option, the separated cycle lane would continue to run along both of the one-way routes, to be used by cyclists travelling in the same direction as the traffic. For the other option, a wider separated cycle lane would run along Cumberland Street only (linked in the vicinity of the S bends by Emily Siedeberg Place) and be used by cyclists traveling in both directions.

Transport Agency Projects Team Manager Simon Underwood says, “In developing these options, the working group recognised that for north-south travel through the inner city, there was little in the way of alternate off-road or non-arterial route options for cyclists.”

As an example, the other continuous route of George Street and Princes Street is also busy and includes bus traffic.

DCC Transportation Planning Manager Sarah Connolly says the Council is being asked to note that initial consultation will start shortly on the two options for the state highway.

“Following Monday’s meeting, preliminary and informal conversations will be held first before a later formal consultation process. The consultation process will be carefully designed to ensure affected businesses are actively involved.”

Both the DCC and the Transport Agency believe improving cycle safety for the one-way system is key to establishing a wider inner city network which provides for safer cycling.

As part of the short-term changes to improve cycle safety, parking changes at seven sites, including outside the Dunedin Hospital, will go ahead. These relate mainly to small changes in the number and type of parks, such as P5s and pay and display parking spaces.

ENDS

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